[quote=patientrenter][quote=Scarlett]….In my case, I don’t have a big pile of cash at all, just enough for a 20% downpayment. ….. But realistically, with kids, for us is very hard to save money at a significant rate (other than for college/retirement), so our downpayment won’t increase substantially in the next couple of years. That’s why I *might* buy in the next year or so while rates are low.[/quote]
Not to pick on you Scarlett, but here is a person who cannot pay the price of a home (at least, not the home they want), and yet wants to buy one. That our system allows that is nuts.[/quote]
What do you mean? Is it better to rent for the rest of my life? I don’t think so. Might as well pay the mortgage and own the house in the end. I really got tired of renting not-so-great places for 2500 a month, when that could be my mortgage. So if I can afford to rent, then I can afford to buy at this monthly payment, won’t you agree?
FYI – I am looking for a house price no more than 3x our gross income, with a debt to gross income ratio less than 30% and with 20% downpayment . So I don’t understand why you say I can’t pay for it or that I shouldn’t be “allowed” to buy it. Do you mean pay all cash???
If a couple of professionals with PhD degrees and successful careers cannot afford a house when they are in their forties and have finally 170K income, then, yeah, the system is nuts, I agree. When I grew up, people like us, at our age, were well settled in a decent house.